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User blog:Sarcastos/The Journal
Things I think about when I play. First, this is from the perspective of a lvl 72 assault with a speedy glass cannon type build. Fast moving, quick reloading, crit landing, adrenaline popping but fragile. Currently I use a red 10*** Sublight and a red 10*** T101. 1.) Trying to find the upgrades/replacements for my gun. The Sublight, as strong as it is, is still a placeholder until I get that red Hornet with at least 7***. I have a lvl 5 mastery in sniper rifles due to spending most of my earlier levels using a reg 4** HIKS S300 that I can't take advantage of until I find that red Hornet. Hornet vs Sublight is a common debate, but imo the Sublight's actual rival is the Mixmaster. The Sublight is actually inferior to the Hornet in a few ways. It has a higher clip. Not important, my reload is quite high. Cheaper ammo cost is also a non issue, because even T101 ammo is just chump change even at HD prices since at my level I gain a few million after playing 5 nm games. As for pierce, I switch to the T101 whenever crowds start massing and spam rockets so for my character that's also a non issue. Compared to the Sublight the Hornet has more DPS, a much lower movement penalty, and makes use of my 9x crit. For a speedy glass cannon that's a much better fit in playstyle than the Sublight. Back then I used a Shockfield (0% movement penalty) and would run a very close circle around bosses, something I couldn't do with the Sublight due to it's encumbering 20% movement penalty. Keep in mind that's my build and play style, I can see a Sublight being more beneficial to a tank heavy or a slower medic. (But why not use a Prop for the heavy?) 2.) Semi-auto guns and clicking I cut my teeth on semi-auto guns, using a reg Shockfield and reg HIKS S300 all the way until lvl high 40s. It wasn't a chore then because regular zombies took at most a few hits to kill and even bosses didn't take that many. But now with NM, no matter awesome those guns are, I just can't go back to semi-auto. All that clicking just makes the game a pain in the ass. Imagine fighting a savage necro with semi-auto. With 2.5 million health. No thanks. 3.) Sidearms are garbage What are the advantages of the side arm? Very fast movement. A third type of damage if the zombies resist the other two guns you have. Is that it? Well, despite all that, I still think they're garbage. Why? Fast movement - only matters if you can do damage. Those silly ass pistols do so little damage compared to my main guns it's not worth using them. I sit at around 80% speed with my Sublight and I'll pop adrenaline if it gets too nasty. Once I find a Hornet, it'll be 97%. Likewise I don't use the Gigavolt. The arcing is cool and unique, but it just doesn't as much damage as I want. I'd rather shoot in a straight line or rocket them a few times instead of a firing 20 thunderbolts before I finish them. Third type of damage - very valid reason. If it's a wicker and it resists your fire and energy damage, having a Poison Claw would be pretty helpful. But how much final damage does a poison claw actually do compared to a non-side arm that has higher damage but is resisted? I don't have the numbers, but I'm talking from feeling and playing. Out of curiousity I used a poison claw alongside my sublight and t101. A group of zombies were physical resistant and not chemically resistant, but guess what, I still killed them within seconds with my Sublight. The poison claw took some 9-10 hits. I then fired three-four shots and moved away, letting DOT take them down. Did not like waiting there. The faster I clear zombies the better, that'll hold priority over moving fast. Lastly, this is more specific to my build. But I don't have the tankiness to afford switching to the wrong weapon at the last second. If I have a sublight, pressing Q or E immediately brings up my T101 and vice versa. No thinking required, just move, switch, fire, repeat. If I have 3 weapons, and I get that damn side arm, see it, process it, and have to press Q/E again, that'll take some small but precious amount of time that could get me killed. I do plan to crunch some numbers for the next topic: Guns for NM Mode: Mixmaster vs Sublight, Stripper vs Shockfield. Category:Blog posts